The Treasury Minister Explains

The 2019 Manx Budget

a presentation

by

Hon Alf Cannan MHK

7:30 pm Monday 25th February 2019

Manx Legion Club, Market Hill, Douglas

FREE PUBLIC ADMISSION - PLEASE COME ALONG AND MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD

Each year the Budget Statement is expected with great anticipation. There is much to think about and Positive Action Group (PAG) is pleased to welcome Treasury Minister, Hon Alf Cannan MHK, to share and discuss his thoughts at a public meeting. He will present his 2019 Budget Statement to Tynwald on 19th February. Less than a week later, as has now become almost traditional Positive Action Group is delighted to host the only public meeting where the Minister will expand on his decisions to the broader electorate, and face questions from the floor as to the public's reaction to those announcements.

"Public Sector Pensions - a Persistent Problem"

a presentation by

Hon. Chris Thomas MHK (Minister for Policy and Reform)

Manx Legion Club Market Hill, Douglas

7:30 pm MONDAY 28th January 2019

The event is free and open to all

]]>admin@positiveactiongroup.org (PAG)frontpageThu, 17 Jan 2019 00:28:25 +0000The Great IoM Primary School League Table Postcode Lotteryhttp://positiveactiongroup.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=634:the-great-iom-primary-school-league-table-postcode-lottery&catid=100:education&Itemid=60
http://positiveactiongroup.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=634:the-great-iom-primary-school-league-table-postcode-lottery&catid=100:education&Itemid=60Since the first (2017) unofficial IOM Primary School League Tables were published on the PAG website debate has been generated on this subject in the Island’s media and other fora.

Following on from this, parent David Watts has written a second article (drawing on responses to a succession of Freedom of Information requests).

The Paper includes the Key Stage 2 (KS2) League Tables for the last academic year (ending July 2018). Importantly this work contains much more – notably what the author terms “Dashboards.”

Here readers will find a series of pages – one dedicated to each of the Island’s 32 primary schools where KS2 academic attainment, respective league table positioning, and other contextual data is tracked over a 5-year (2014-18) period.

Parents can directly compare and contrast various aspects of the Island’s schools to see, for example, if it is a consistently higher academic performer, a school where pupils struggle to reach Level 5 (+) or whether it is one whose KS2 results mirror that of a roller coaster, experiencing cyclical peaks and troughs of varying degrees.

Furthermore, following publication of England’s Early Years Foundation Stage results on 18th October 2018 an analysis of each Island school’s Reception Year performance has been conducted using the Good Level of Development (GLD) performance measure. Here the author highlights the Island’s low ranking compared to the 152 Local Education Authorities (LEA) in England – if the IOM was considered as the 153rd LEA it would rank 126th.

Of course, as with KS2 results, there is dramatic variation in performance between Island schools. Full details are published in this Paper.

A pupil’s choice of school is governed by geographical catchment areas (unless the lottery of an out of catchment place is granted). Thus, a parent’s/guardian’s address means that school choice is postcode dependent (selecting faith orientated schooling, the Manx Language school or seeking private education are potential alternatives). Accordingly, parents may well want to compare various qualities and attributes of schools.

This Paper focuses on academic results, noting of course, that other factors are of great importance to prospective parents.

The author believes that his Paper makes for thought provoking reading for anybody interested in the academic performance of the Island’s Primary Schools.

panel and audience discussion

Manx Legion Club, Market Hill, Douglas

7:30 pm MONDAY 29th October 2018

The event is free and open to all

At the last census in 2016 there were 42,045 females out of an island population of 83,314. So women made up over half the population of the Isle of Man. True representation would see 12 MHKs elected and 4 MLCs.

Although much is made of the fact that women in the Isle of Man were given the vote back in 1881 very few women have stood for office and served in the House of Keys or Tynwald over the last 130 years. Why is that? What is holding women back? What is their experience once elected?

The Positive Action Group (PAG) hopes to encourage debate on the important subject of Women in Manx Politics through its next meeting on October 29th.

Past and present female politicians will form a panel to answer questions, relate their personal experiences and explore suggestions that might improve the situation and encourage more women to take part in politics.

"Wellness: A New Health Model For The Isle of Man"

Presentations and panel discussion

Manx Museum Theatre

Douglas

7:30 pm MONDAY 25th June 2018

For its eighth and final public meeting of the political year Positive Action Group (PAG) returns to the theme of healthcare. The meeting will be at the Manx Museum Theatre, Kingswood Grove, Douglas, Monday 25th June starting at 7:30 pm. PAG has invited four speakers each to give a short 7 minute presentation about various aspects of healthcare in the IoM. They are:

The issue of League Tables and related benchmarking of pupil performance between jurisdictions has recently come to the fore with the publication by Daphne Caine MHK of her annual Children’s Champion Report together with questions being asked of the Department of Education, Sport & Culture (DESC) in a recent (16th March 2018) sitting of the Social Affairs Policy Review Committee.

The DESC has long been opposed to league tables and in December 2017 published a document highlighting their arguments against such.

The Department’s Service Delivery Plan (2016-2021) highlights that part of its vision is for “a world class education system for all…”.

The author submits that part of any world class education system would be an enviable benchmarked record of attainment whilst acknowledging and ensuring that other outcomes such as key skills and the development of personal qualities have a prominent and important role in the curriculum. Such skills and qualities are not however, in the author’s opinion, mutually exclusive to high academic attainment.

As a parent of two children now in Key Stage 3, I analysed a variety of responses made by the Department in relation to requests (submitted by myself and other individuals) pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act 2015. Such requests sought attainment data for the end (Year 6) of Key Stage 2 (KS2 which overall encompasses Years 3-6) for each of the Island’s thirty-two primary schools over a period of years.

My initial focus has been on the most recent academic year (2016-17) where full attainment results were only published by the Department subsequent to the applicant seeking a review by the Information Commissioner whereupon the Department was directed to release the information sought by the applicant....